Vin Diesel on Facebook’s influence on Hollywood

In a recent interview for Entertainment Weekly, Hollywood actor Vin Diesel brings up Facebook’s influence on Hollywood. The “Fast & Furious 6” star reveals that he was one of the first celebrities to have a Facebook account and interact with fans all over the world.

Back in 2009, actor Vin Diesel realized that the social network that was then at its beginnings, Facebook, was about to become “something very big.” “When I jumped on that page in April 2009, I started talking to people. In the realest ways”, says the actor. Then, suddenly, he gained millions of Facebook fans.

“When I had started my page, the only person that had a million fans was Barack Obama”, he recalls. But soon, the Hollywood hunk gained more popularity than the US President, more than Coca-Cola and other huge international brands. And this was just because he interacted directly with his fans. It was only because I said, ‘Hi, guys, I love you.’

Looking back at what Hollywood might have been now if Facebook had been invented decades ago, Vin Diesel imagines how it would have been like to be able to connect online and talk to your favorite stars, from Elvis to Marlon Brando, to Clark Gable. “I think Hollywood, and the choices Hollywood has made, would’ve been radically different if Clark Gable had 40 million people on his Facebook page”, he continued.

At one point, he remembers being invited to the Facebook quarters to explain “what the f— I was doing, and why I had so many fans”. Then he jokes: “Facebook really owes me billions of dollars, but whatever.”